Cut the Q – Benchmark with Disney FASTPASS

While cleaning up my desk this morniing, I came across the following article authored by my junior colleague, Amit, written in the early part of this century. This was the time when we at Qimpro were researching cross-industry benchmarking for our new venture, BestPrax Club.

I wish to share this insight with you.

Cut the Q – Benchmark with Disney FASTPASS

Last week – as part of a COPQ assessment team – we spent some time with the CEO of a mid-size construction firm. He had some interesting professional goals. Amongst other things he revealed that he would consider this organization as successful when there was a long queue of customers waiting outside his office waiting to buy its products / services. “Ene dhandho kevaye.” That’s what I call business. He emphatically announced in Gujarati.

What can be a dream or a driving vision for one organization; can well be a nightmare for another. It is common knowledge that time spent in a queue is no one’s gain. Sometimes, when you are in the business of running an amusement park, bank, utility services, etc. customer dissatisfaction due to long queues can do some serious damage to the reputation of your business.

Consider Disneyland for example. They had a serious problem with customers getting extremely dissatisfied and irritable due to the long wait times at their rides.

“The fact is we live in a wired world where time has become a precious commodity. Guests are even more irritated with paying exorbitant gate fees, only to stand in line for the average four-minute ride. In rare cases, outright violence is the end result. Not long ago, a Disneyland Cast Member was assaulted by an irate guest who had mistaken him for someone cutting in line.”

–          Will Wiess, freelance writer for the themed entertainment industry.

Also since the “guests” were spending such a lot of time at the queues the park was losing out on revenues that would have been generated from the gift shops and restaurants. There was a very dire need for a solution for what was soon turning out to be a chronic problem.

Disney FASTPASS a virtual queuing solution was created and introduced by the Walt Disney Company in 1999.

FASTPASS allows guests to avoid long lines at the attractions on which the system is installed, freeing them to enjoy other attractions during their wait. The service is available at no additional charges to all park guests.

–          Source: Wikipedia

The idea was simple. Provide the guests with a choice to wait in queue for the ride if they want to enjoy it NOW. Or give them a predetermined time at which they can return and gain priority access to the ride. Allow them to cut the queue – the smart way.

Other than amusement parks, I can envisage at least a dozen more organizations that can easily look at implementing a system similar to FASTPASS. It may not be a typical plug-and-play type of implementation. Just tweak it to the extent where it can be adapted to meet your business objectives and environment.

What do you feel?